NC Dixie Boys Champs!--third in the World Series
Brunswick County Dixie Boys baseball team, the North Carolina champions lost back to back game to Louisiana for a third place finish in the Dixie Boys World Series held in Christiansburg, Virginia. The losses come after North Carolina had reeled off four straight wins to advance to the semi-finals.
After topping Louisiana 9-3 earlier in the series, Brunswick County dropped an 18-5 game to the Bayou boys. The loss put the two teams, along with Mississippi with one loss each. They had a blind draw to see who would get the bye and advance to the championship round. Mississippi won the draw and received the bye, That meant the winner of the Brunswick County and Louisiana game would turn around and play Mississippi in the second game of the double header.
Brunswick County got off to a quick start when Dustin Darguzas blasted a solo homerun in the top of the first giving them an early 1-0 lead. Brunswick County starter Kevin Harris shut down Louisiana in the bottom of the first, before Louisiana pushed a pair across to take the lead at 2-1. Clint Graves led drew a one out walk, pitcher Patrick Whipple doubled and Cody McGuire reached on a two run error before Barnes got out of the inning.
Brunswick County third baseman Tyler Barnes led off the top of the fourth inning with a solo homerun to tie the score at 2-2. Seth Christian launched a two run homer for Louisiana in the last of the fourth to retake the lead, a lead they would never relinquish.
Whipple added a two run single in the fifth inning, extending the Louisiana lead to 6-2.Tyler Barnes relieved Harris in the sixth and shut Louisiana down in the inning. Brunswick County mounted a serious rally in the top half of the seventh, scoring two runs and leaving the bases loaded for the second time in the game.
With two outs Michael Moss and Dustin Darguzas both walked, and Barnes singled to load the bases. Moss then scored on a passed ball cutting the lead to 6-3. Kahlil Gause then drew a bases loaded walk to further cut into the lead at 6-4. That’s as close as Brunswick County would get, as Koty Howard grounded out to second base to end the game and end Brunswick County’s hopes of reaching the pinnacle of the sport.
Brunswick County was held to sixth hits, with Barnes leading the way with three, including his solo homerun in the fourth inning. Darguzas, Gause, and Kevin Harris all had one hit each. Chad Daniel led Louisiana with three hits.
In the championship game Laurel Hills, Mississippi broke a 4-4 tie in the last of the sixth, and held on to defeat Louisiana 5-4 to capture the 2010 Dixie Boys World Series. The 12 team field battled five days in front of thousands of spectators to determine the winner.
In the opening ceremonies the night before the games began, Brunswick County’s Kevin Harris hit two home runs in the first round and a third one in the second round to capture the home run derby from Louisiana’s Cade Harper.
In the base running contest it came down to a pair of Brunswick County kids, and was decided by one hundredth of a second. Sean Hewitt circled the bases in 9..34 seconds, as Erick Hill finished in 9.35 seconds for a very close second.
By Gary Rabon sports@theLNR.com
